Camassia (Quamash)
Camassias are useful for filling the gap in the border as the tulips fade. They are happy in any good garden soil. All can be grown in grass.
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cusickii
BM5201
Camassia cusickii. Naturalising
Large racemes of silvery-blue flowers. These are the first to flower - just as the daffodils are fading. Ideal for adding colour to a sunny border. They are happy in any good garden soil and can be naturalised. At Wisley gardens they are mixed with the taller and later C.caerulea to follow on from daffodils in the grass. They are remarkably long lasting in flower.
Height: 36"
Flowers: May
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leichtlinii Alba
BM5202
Camassia leichtlinii Alba. Naturalising
More correctly this is Camassia leichtlinii but we use the alba to distinguish it from the blue forms. It has large spikes of starry creamy white flowers. It is an excellent border plant for any soil in sun or will naturalise in grass. It is an excellent foil for the purple Allium hollandicum.
Award of Garden Merit by the RHS
Height: 30"
Flowers: May
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leichtlinii Caerulea
BM5203
Camassia leichtlinii Caerulea ( sucksdorfii) Naturalising
Striking spikes of strong blue starry flowers with conspicuous yellow stamens. It is a good foil for the creamy varieties and excellent to add early colour to the herbaceous border. It can be naturalised in grass and is traditionally used around the base of fruit trees. Plant the bulbs 6" deep in the autumn. Summer dormant.
Award of Garden Merit by the RHS
Height: 24" - 30"
Flowers: May
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leichtlinii semi-plena
BM5209
Camassia leichtlinii Semi-Plena.
This is the tallest of the camassias and the last to flower. The very tall, stiff stems, are densely covered with a succession of creamy-yellow star-shaped flowers that are semi-double. The flower for a long time and are perfect for the middle of a sunny border. Like all summer flowering bulbs the leaves are fading by the time the flowers appear so I plant them in the middle of the border. They are good poking up behind the leaves of daylilies (hemerocallis)
Height: 4'
Flowers: May - June
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quamash (esculenta)
BM5204
Camassia quamash. Naturalising
(Camassia esculenta). These were a food plant for native Americans but you would need a lot of these tiny bulbs to make a meal! Deep blue spikes of flowers with bright golden stamens. Naturalises well and is a good foil for the Pheasant Eye Narcissus (poeticus recurvus). It is rather like a slender, upright bluebell. Plant the bulbs in the autumn. Summer dormant.
Height: 12"
Flowers: May
